Congratulations, you're a father!
by Tirainy
Summary: Being in a same-sex relationship should be the ultimate way of avoiding having unplanned kids. Somehow it isn't in their case.
1. Chapter 1

**Congratulations, you're a father!**

Being in a same-sex relationship should be the_ ultimate_ way of avoiding having unplanned kids. Somehow it isn't in their case.

**TAGs:** One shot, Writing Exercise, Wordcount: 1.000-5.000, Established Relationship, fluff, unplanned parenthood, Original Child Character, I don't even know

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters from the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise.**

* * *

It had been too quiet lately, so Shadow knew it was only a question of _time_ until something would once again wreck his currently somehow monotone life. When the Commander called him into his office to have a_ private_ talk with him that morning, he believed that day would be today.

As expected, it _was_. As expected, a crazy scientist was responsible.

Unexpectedly, the scientist was not Dr. Eggman. Also unexpectedly, it had nothing to do with world domination.

Well, in a certain sense it _had_, as that apparently had been the end goal of the scientist, _but _the way he meant to achieve this was the problem.

When Shadow joined GUN all these years ago, it was under the condition that all the DNA samples and every single document that in any way touched on the Ultimate Lifeform project would be destroyed—and it had been done to his knowledge. It had nothing to do with his pride to be the only of his kind as many assumed, but for the sole reason to prevent the humans creating more 'perfect' soldiers that Shadow was sure would have been put through the same hellish training he had been.

However, as it appeared, one of GUN scientists had somehow managed to get a sample of his DNA and set on single-handedly reviving the Ultimate Lifeform project.

And quite _successfully_ as the babbling infant in Rouge's arms showed. The kid looked very much like him, save for the stripe and eye color—those clearly were from the kid's other parent and, _Chaos_, don't even get him started on_ that_. He knew that the scientist had likely gotten his DNA sample by simply stealing some of his blood samples from the infirmary but the guy definitely had some explaining to do as to where he had gotten _Sonic's _sample.

"I do understand your reluctance, agent Shadow, but I do believe it would be in everyone's best interest," the Commander cut into his musings, clearly taking his silence as him pondering the Commander's proposition rather than him trying to talk himself out of tearing up the facility in search of the scientist to mangle the man responsible for this whole predicament.

And, oh, yes, the proposition... "I know nothing of taking care of children," Shadow answered resolutely. It was true that the Commander had had fair points that the child needed someone to take care of her and it would be best if it was somebody that had familiarity with extraordinary powers—there was no way the girl would end up _ordinary_ considering where her genes had come from—and, of course, preferably somebody that could actually lead her once the powers manifested themselves and_ utmost_ preferably her _parents_ as he and Sonic knew the best how to deal with their powers. And considering the child had to have some Black Arms DNA in her as well, having someone that could explain to her any peculiar _alien _traits that might appear down the line too was necessary.

He didn't really have a choice, did he?

Crimson eyes turned to stare at the giggling child and, _hell_, she also had Sonic's smile. Shadow cursed under his breath.

Heavens, how was he supposed to explain the kid to Sonic in the _first place_?

-O-

Shadow stood awkwardly before the front door of his and Sonic's house. He could hear Sonic moving around inside but he made no move to open the door, still trying to figure out how to exactly explain the little child that he currently held in his arms. He knew that adopting Rouge's "Congratulations, you're a father!" which she had used on him this morning before the Commander even had a chance to explain, would probably go better down with Sonic than it had with himself, but he still felt reluctant about using it. There had to be a better way, right?

However, before Shadow could come up with one of those better ways, the front door had already swung open, revealing a grinning Sonic. "Hey, Shad! Wel—" the hero stared but stopped when he noticed the little being in his arms, the hero's smile faltering ever so slightly. "...Um, who is this?"

Sonic leaned slightly closer to the kid, green eyes quickly taking in the details and the way a single blue brow rose in a silent question clearly told Shadow that Sonic had noticed the_ very_ clear resemblance to him and wanted answers.

"Don't look at me like that. I have no hand in this," Shadow responded, readjusting his hold on the little sleeping child in his arms. "One of GUN scientists took it up on himself to reopen the Ultimate Lifeform project. She's the result—Before you ask, the other parent is _you_. Congratulations."

"What—wait—_what?!_"

-O-

"How old is she?" Sonic asked, cradling the now-awake and clearly curious child in his own arms. Shadow noted he seemed far more natural like that than he had. Then again Sonic had always been great at handling children.

"It's hard to tell," Shadow replied. "The man's notes were barely readable, but it appears he had been growing her for five months at least—" Sonic made a_ face_ and Shadow gave an exasperated sigh. "—_What?_" he bit, not in the mood to deal with any more nonsense today.

"Just—do you have to say it like that? You're making it sound as if she was some kind of vegetable."

Shadow gave the other a _stare._ "I was _literally_ grown in a tube, Sonic. She's no different."

"I know but—"

"Come to think of it, if she stars talking soon, don't be alarmed," Shadow remarked. "Or walking."

The hero gave him a_ look_ before turning his gaze down and gently prying the little girl's mouth open.

"She doesn't even have her baby teeth _yet_, Shad," Sonic emphasized, looking at him once more. "It's a little too early for her to be talking or_ walking._"

"If she's after me in this regard, she'll be running around before the end of June," Shadow replied. "When I was two years old, I was already a teenager physically. It's very likely she will develop just as quickly."

Sonic paused at that, looking at him in confusion. "...how old are you actually?"

"Seven if you don't include the time I've spent frozen."

"Wait, so you were _four_ when we first met?" Shadow nodded. For_ whatever_ reason, that just made Sonic laugh. "Man, I guess that makes the whole incident the worst tantrum a _four-year_ old had thrown in history then."

This time it was Shadow's turn to send the other a _look_. He gave a sarcastic laugh. Sonic just gave him another grin.

"Well, I guess we should get back to the matter at hand," Sonic mused as he came to sit beside him, thus giving the little girl a chance to reach for Shadow's chest fur and pull on it—with enough strength that she could probably fight a six-year old at this very moment; as it seemed she had inherited his enhanced muscles. "What are we going to call her?"

"Call her whatever you want."

"Oh, come on, Shad! That's not how you're supposed to do it! We should be throwing around names until we agree on one."

"_Fine._" Shadow gave an exasperated sigh. The crimson eyes focused on the little child in Sonic's arms, trying to figure out a name. "...Twilight."

"Too cliché," Sonic argued. "How about 'Midnight'?"

"Midnight?" Shadow mused aloud. It sounded kind of right but not exactly... "Night?" he suggested and, oh, yeah, that sounded way better.

"Night? I like that." Sonic nodded. "How about you? Should we call you 'Night'?" he asked, tickling the little girl, who immediately gave a giggle. "Night, it is." Sonic gave a laugh of his own. "Welcome to the family, Night!" he greeted enthusiastically.

Night seemed to get more excited at the exclamation, giving a bubbly laugh. Somehow Sonic's smile seemed to grow eve wider at that, the hero clearly pleased with the reaction. Shadow felt something in his chest twist at the sight.

Maybe having a child would not be so bad, after all...


	2. Chapter 2

**AN:** A lot of people seem to have liked the idea, so I figured I'd make this a mini-series. The chapters are going to be short (probably like 1000-2000 words each) and there won't really be any plot per-se, just boys trying to figure out parenting. The updates are not going to be regular, mostly when my inspiration strikes. Hopefully, you'll find it entertaining enough to keep an eye on!

* * *

You know Shadow would expect that most _normal _people would do a double take after learning that Night was _both_ his and Sonic's_ biological_ daughter.

Thus it was rather amusing that the (unarguably) most normal person of Sonic's friend-circle _didn't_ even bat an eye and just invited them in for a tea.

"I still have some books about baby-care from when Cream was little, you may take them if you want," Vanilla offered, setting their cups on the low coffee table before going over to the book-shelf to search for them. "Or is there specific piece of advice you're looking for? Something you'd like me to teach you?"

"I think a quick crash-course would be the best," Sonic noted, the two of them sharing a look. Sonic had always been a fan of 'figuring stuff out as you go' life-approach, but this was about a living being—he couldn't really afford mistakes here. Knowing Shadow, the agent was going to read every single one of Vanilla's books but those still couldn't beat real-life experience. "Though we're here mostly to ask if you'd be willing to look after her from time to time? We'll try to manage on our own but with Eggman and Shadow's work—"

"Of course, dear." She offered them a kind smile and set the books on the table before sitting down as well. "The house has been too quiet lately anyway."

Sonic felt some of the weight lift from his shoulders. "Thank you."

"You're welcome."

-O-

"Oh, look who's here!" Rouge was practically _beaming_ when she saw them walk through the door into the he currently empty club. After all, it was still quite few hours away from opening time. Rouge waved them to join her by the bar she was currently cleaning. "My favorite niece!"

"Your _niece_?" Shadow asked in disbelief, unconsciously tightening his hold on Night by a small margin. By his side, Sonic just snickered.

"Why do you sound so surprised?" Rouge rose an amused brow when they reached the bar. "Everyone needs a_ fun_ aunt, after all." She grinned, carefully taking the baby from Shadow. Night seemed to regard her for a moment, but then immediately began making bubbly baby noises and grabbing motions with her little hands. Clearly, she recognized Rouge. The bat in turn started making crooning noises. Night seemed to like that.

"So have you two decided on a name yet?" Rouge asked after what Shadow assumed was getting her minimal daily quota of adorable baby interaction.

"Night," Sonic offered with a grin, taking seat on one of the bar stools.

"Night?" Rouge seemed to consider the name for a moment. "A little old fashioned but elegant." She nodded. "I approve." She inclined her head a little. "Though what brings you here anyway, boys? It wasn't to show off your adorable daughter, was it?"

"Actually, it's kind of what we want to do," Sonic announced.

Rouge rose a questioning brow.

"Well, we think it'd be best if we told everyone about her. You know, in case there's an emergency like when Eggman attacks and such. So they'd be on the watch-out because we might not be able to reach the site as quickly as normally and—"

"So they know they'll either be going to fill in for you in a fight or child-watching. Got it." Rouge gave him a thumbs up, immediately grabbing her phone from the counter. "Does a baby shower at six sound good to you?"

Sonic blinked surprisedly. She didn't actually plan to set that up today, did she? "I don't think—"

"Push it to seven," Shadow said. Sonic sent him a look of surprise. Shadow just sent him a look of defeat. "Just let her, Sonic. You're_ not_ going to change her mind."

After all, the bat was leaving a voice-mail for a _second_ person already.

-O-

"Do you think it would be rude to ask who the parents are?" Vector whispered, looking over the room and fruitlessly trying to figure out who the mysterious people who had had a kid were as Rouge had been cryptic in her words only inviting everybody 'to congratulate their friends'.

By his side, Sonic tried not to snicker. Rouge was with Night in the back-room so nobody was any wiser about who these 'friends' were. Plus considering they were the only officially announced couple of their friend group, everybody was wildly theorizing who could have possibly secretly hooked up with who, because, after all, they were two _guys_ who had never said a word about wanting to adopt a kid, so they weren't even considered as the possible candidates.

Sonic tried not to grin. _Tried._ "Not sure. Though I don't think it'll be anyone you'd expect."

However, his small slip-up didn't escape Vector's attention. "You know who the parents are." Not a question.

"Maybe." Sonic grinned.

Vector opened his mouth, clearly wanting to question him further, but, by the time, Rouge was already waving at him from by the back-room door. Sonic sent Vector a little grin and wordlessly went to join Rouge. She was holding Night in her arms, but she was wrapped up in a blanket in a way that made it seem like Rouge was holding _just_ a blanket. Which considering this being a baby shower would not be that surprising to see. Babies needed blankets.

Rouge winked at him, then at Shadow, who quietly stood in a near corner, and then began. "Everybody! The time is here!" she announced aloud and the room quited down immediately, everybody clearly eager to learn who had the kid. Some of the more receptive ones noticed how close Sonic was standing and the way their expressions changed as they started to put two and two together were absolutely _priceless_. "Please, let's all congratulate to the proud _fathers_! Meet Night!"

She handed the little bundle to him, unwrapping the blanket a little so the guests could see Night, who immediately took to curiously staring at the assembly.

There was moment of silence where everybody was clearly taking in the news and the image and it was continual wave of everybody doing a double-take and immediately looking for Shadow in the crowd.

To add to the fuel to the fire, Rouge giddily announced, "By the way, _Sonic_ is her bio-dad... Well, Shadow too. It's a funny story—"

After that, well, after that, it was just _absolute_ chaos.


	3. Chapter 3

**To SunSera:** Happy to hear you're enjoying this! Just heads up, Shadow's age in this story is a headcanon of mine, not canonical. (Not sure if I'm remebering it correctly but I believe his canonical age is only specified to be 50+ with his physical age being 15.) There's little info to work off when it comes to Shadow's time on ARK, so I'm putting him at age that makes sense to me—due to obvious reasons, Shadow_ has to_ be younger than Maria and we know that Professor Gerald had made a prototype (Biolizard), _but_ because he had to enlist Doom's help it's probably safe to assume there were more prototypes before Shadow came to be, thus I think it's reasonable to put him at 4 years old at the time of raid. Hope that cleared it up a little bit!

**AN:** Hey, it's been a while. Let's bring on the cuteness!

* * *

"—to my defense, we've only had her for _a day,_" Sonic explained, pulling an apologetic expression on his face. "And Rouge hasn't exactly given us time to announce it _one_ at a time."

"Oh. I'm not mad, just surprised," Tails clarified, realizing his earlier tone might have given Sonic a bad idea. "You two haven't said anything about wanting children and she looks just like Shadow so—_you know_." Tails made vague gestures with his hands. " It's a lot to take in. How are you two faring?"

"So far so good." Sonic laughed, rubbing his neck. "She hasn't been giving us any trouble so far but Shadow thinks it's only because of her being interested in all the new things around her."

"That's possible." Tails inclined his head a little, letting a small smile show. "The sleep deprivation has yet to come."

"Or we might end up being lucky and have a kid that sleeps through a whole night!"

"Most babies are not like that, Sonic."

"But I was that kind of a baby, so I think we have a solid 50% chance of that. Plus even if push came to shove, we agreed on a sleeping schedule with Shadow. At least one of us will always be awake at a time so no sleepless nights for either of us." Sonic grinned. "Perks of having an Ultimate Lifeform as a co-parent!"

"But are you sure Shadow can manage that? Sure, he doesn't need much sleep but he's still going to go on missions for GUN, right?" Tails reasoned. "That's not exactly schedule-friendly job."

"It isn't, but we have two weeks to iron everything out; the Commander gave Shadow some time off to deal with this and promised that Shadow is going to be given only short-term missions for a few months if it can be helped."

"He's not usually this forthcoming," Tails noted aloud with clear surprise.

"No, he isn't. But Rouge suggested he might be feeling somehow responsible for this whole situation." Green eyes looked towards said bat, who was still surrounded by the rest of their friends, everybody still too busy fawning over little Night in her arms. Huh, he'd never guess Espio to be the type to gush over babies like that. "That he should have picked on the suspicious activity sooner, you know."

"How was the guy even discovered?"

"Apparently, he brought it on himself. He was a pompous jerk and his coworkers hated him for it, so one of them asked Rogue to dig up some dirt on the guy that he'd had to be fired over—and Rouge found out he was stealing medical equipment and when she was trying to find out what for, she ended up discovering his secret laboratory and Night."

"Whoa, that must have been shock to her."

"I'd bet—"

"Sorry for being late!" The door was suddenly slammed open, Amy appearing in the doorway. "I just got the message—" Amy stopped mid-sentence as she noticed the baby in Rouge's arm, her green eyes widening and sparkling at the sight of the adorable hedgie.

Amy squealed.

Night, on the other hand, started crying.

-O-

"Well, I guess now we at least know she inherited your taste in people," Sonic joked as he watched Shadow rock Night gently from side to side in attempt to calm her down. The cries have changed to sniffles, so it seemed to work at least partially. "She likes who you like and dislikes who you dislike. _Daddy's_ girl through and through."

Shadow gave a 'hmph' sound. "Or maybe she just doesn't like people that screech like a banshee," he countered, shooting Amy a disapproving look across the room. Sonic was sure that if Shadow had Blaze's powers, Amy would have already ignited from that stare alone. "Rose's screaming probably hurt her ears."

"Ames probably just startled her," Sonic argued, stepping closer to Shadow to wrap an arm around the other's tense body, brushing his fingers gently over the other's side in attempt to relax the agent as well. With his other hand, Sonic began to gently brushed over Night's short head-fur, doing his part in comforting her. It seemed to be effective as her eyelids began to droop and it was not long after that she fell asleep. A small smile tugged at Sonic's lips at the sight.

Beside him, Shadow finally seemed to relax too.

"Give Amy a second chance," Sonic requested as he met his lover's still somewhat stormy gaze. "She didn't mean to scare her, she was just excited."

"Rose's always had poor impulse control," Shadow retorted, readjusting Night's position in his arms. "But if that's what you want, so be it. However, if she makes Night cry again, she's banned from interacting with her."

Sonic let out a small chuckle. "Deal." He pressed a quick kiss to Shadow's cheek, which caused Shadow's expression to soften. Then Sonic grabbed Shadow's free arm to put him over to Amy, still smiling. Shadow might try to deny it, but it was obvious that Night was growing on him quickly.

_Daddy's_ girl, indeed.

-O-

"—what about kindergarten? School? Have you got a—"

"Geez, Amy, slow down. You're worse than Shadow with that."

"Sorry, I guess I got a little excited there." Amy chuckled, looking down at the peacefully resting baby in her arms. "I mean this is kind of unique situation so—"

"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it," Sonic replied simply. "First walking, talking and all that stuff."

"You're not doing the 'dad and uncle' thing, right?" Amy asked.

Sonic rubbed his neck. "Well, we haven't talked about that with Shadow." He sheepishly rubbed his neck. "I mean she's blood-related both to me and Shadow, so it wouldn't make sense. Though her calling us both 'Dad' would surely get confusing at some point."

"'Papa' seems to be quite popular these days," Amy suggested. "Some say it's easier for the kids to say than 'dad'."

"Papa?" Sonic hummed. Well, that sounded as a reasonable alternative. "Hey, Shadow! How do you feel about being called Papa?"

"Do you have anything more ridiculous?"

"That means he loves it," Sonic 'translated', grinning. "Perfect! Thanks for helping us with that, Ames," Sonic spoken aloud enough for Shadow to hear even as far as he was.

The agent immediately piped up at this. "Did you hear what I've said—?"

"Oh, _Papa _Shadow!" Rogue had clearly overheard too. "Everybody heard that? We now refer to Shadow exclusively as _Papa_. Got it?" She chuckled at the multitude of agreements that sounded from the crowd. She nudged her sulky colleague in the side. "Come on, think about the positives—you're probably going to be her first word!"

"I hate all of you," was all Shadow said. "Especially you, Sonic."

Sonic just laughed in response.


	4. Chapter 4

**AN:** Beware of the cute babies.

* * *

"Hey, Shadow, lunch is ready! Do you—" Sonic peeked into the living room, stopping mid-sentence in surprise at what he found. A small amused huff left the peach lips just a moment later.

"You know, _I_ am supposed to be the professional napper here," Sonic joked as he walked over to the sofa where Shadow was silently sleeping away with Night doing the same on Shadow's fluffy chest and looking really content about that. Sonic let a small smile show on his face at the adorable display.

It was kind of funny because he had expected that_ he_'d would be the one doing this kind of cuddly stuff with Shadow not really being a touchy-feely kind of person, but Night had_ loudly_ stated her preference about who was to rock her to sleep a couple of times now so Shadow had to unwillingly take on the role.

Though, it wasn't like Night necessarily _minded _when Sonic was doing the rocking; she generally fell asleep just as quickly as with Shadow. It was just that if Shadow was in a near vicinity, she would always continue wiggling about and not settle until she changed hands.

And, well, Sonic_ understood_ that because Shadow's fluffy chest was the _best_ pillow you could get; so he never really took it personally. Night just had her priorities sorted out.

"Shadow." He shook his partner's shoulder gently, choosing the left one as Shadow was holding Night with his right and Sonic didn't want to accidentally wake her up by tugging on it. "Wake up."

Dark brows furrowed and soon crimson eyes blinked open. "...What's the matter?" came the mumbled and somehow annoyed reply.

However, Sonic didn't let himself be affected by the tone because Shadow _always_ used that one when he was woken up from a nap—despite always claiming naps were just a waste of his time. Sonic let himself snicker a little at the contradiction. One day he'll gonna get Shadow to admit naps have their charm, but for now— "The lunch is ready," Sonic just said simply and moved to take still sleeping Night from Shadow. The dark hand tightened its hold on the little hedgie instinctively to keep her where she was. Sonic let out a small chuckle. "I just want to move her to her playpen," he explained.

Upon hearing that, Shadow seemed to realize what he was doing and relaxed his hold enough so Sonic could actually pick up Night. However, even though Sonic was trying to be careful and slow, the movement was still enough to wake up the girl.

And to no-one's surprise, Night immediately started_ complaining_.

"Hey, hey, it's alright." Sonic readjusted his hold on Night so she could nestle herself in his arms instead. "I'm just gonna borrow Papa for a few minutes for lunch and then he's all yours again, kay?" He petted the little girl's head, brushing some of the tousled fur and soft baby quills back into place. "I promise."

Night seemed to quiet at that, cries changing to sniffles, almost as if she could understand his words but Sonic was sure it was mostly his gentle tone doing the work. Big green eyes looked up to him, making it seem as if the girl was studying his face—maybe she was, it was hard to tell—but soon they were choosing a different target—Shadow—and Night was _complaining_ again.

"She's hungry," Shadow stated before Sonic could even try to start figuring out what was the problem. And Sonic knew he could trust Shadow's judgment because so far Shadow had_ never_ been wrong about what Night wanted at whatever moment. He really needed to figure out how Shadow was doing that. "Let's make her a bottle," Shadow added.

However, just because Shadow's parental intuition was great _didn't_ mean Sonic's wasn't. "I've already boiled water for that," Sonic announced with a grin as he headed for the kitchen, the still crying child in his arms. Shadow followed right after.

It was not long after that the milk was made and Night was practically grabbing for it when she realized what it was. Sonic laughed as he felt her trying to tug the bottle out of his hand, so she'd be holding it completely on her own, but Sonic didn't let her because even if she had the strength to actually do that—even as little as she was—she still hadn't quite figured out the _whole _holding business and Sonic didn't feel like cleaning up spilled milk right now.

As he waited for Night to finish gobbling up her lunch, Sonic sat down on one of the kitchen chairs. Shadow on the other hand busied himself with serving their own lunch. However, the dark agent didn't even have the time to taste the food before Night had already finished her bottle and was reaching towards him again. She added some sniffling noises when the agent didn't move to pick her up immediately.

"No," Shadow said simply, determined to actually eat his lunch first.

Night wailed harder.

Sonic in turn started to laugh. "Well, I promised her she'd go back to her Papa after lunch. She probably didn't get it wasn't_ hers _though. "

"Probably," Shadow mused as his red eyes locked with the big green ones of his daughter. A battle of will commenced.

Night was the one who won it in the end, her arguments being too profound and _loud_ to be ignored.

-O-

_"Napping and snacking?"_ Rouge asked, her tone one of utter disbelief. _"Our dear Shadow?"_

"Strange, isn't it?" Sonic mused aloud, taking a sip of his soda. "Though what's even weirder is—he's like really in tune with her? She's just crying about something, I'm trying to figure out what it is that she wants and Shadow just randomly comes up with a bottle or something, gives it to her and she's happy."

_"Oh?"_ Sonic could imagine Rouge cocking a brow on the other side of the line.

"Yeah, it's like if he can read her—Oh." Sonic's eyes widened as things clicked into place. "I have to go, Rouge."

_"What? Why? What did you just—?"_

However, instead of answering her, Sonic hung up and went to peek into the living room, "Shad?"

"Hmm?" Shadow hummed questioningly from his spot on the couch but didn't look up. He had Night in his arms and was feeding her again. She looked content albeit little sleepy. Shadow himself did too. Before Sonic had his revelation he would have chalked it up to Shadow being tired because he was not used to looking after a young child but well now...

Sonic rounded the couch and sat down beside Shadow, green eyes briefly flickering towards the bowl of washed grapes on the table that Shadow prepared himself as a quick snack; Shadow didn't do snacks before Night. Just like he didn't do naps. But now he was doing both—snacking when Night herself was hungry and napping when she wanted to sleep.

Sonic just wondered if Shadow himself was aware he was doing that...

"Hey, Shad." Well, there was only one way to find out. "How do you always know what Night wants?"

"What do you mean?" Shadow raised a questioning brow.

Sonic raised one in response. Wait, Shadow hadn't noticed that either? "Well, you always know what she wants_ right away_ as if you could read her mind," Sonic explained. "You also kinda seem to mirror her moods have you noticed that? Snacking when she's hungry and napping along with her." Sonic shrugged his shoulders. "And, well, the Black Arms had some kind of mental connection thingy going on, right?" —Shadow's body went tense. The red eyes narrowed. Their intense gaze snapped towards the oblivious baby in their owner's arms.— "And you both have their blood. So, I was just curious if you and her are somehow—H-hey!"

Sonic fumbled to quickly secure his hold on the little body that was very-much _shoved _into his arms without any warning, the action making Night cry out in surprise and discomfort. Her bottle dropped to the ground just a moment later, Sonic not having the capacity to focus his attention on it, too busy catching Night.

"Shadow, wait!" he shouted the moment he actually had a solid hold on the little body of the currently crying child. He stood up, making sure to avoid the spilled milk—but by the time he was up on his feet Shadow was already gone from the room.

Sonic stared into the empty hallway, unsure what to make of the reaction. He knew that the Black Arms' mind-to-mind connection was kind of a touchy subject to Shadow because of how Black Doom had tried to exploit Shadow with it by twisting Shadow's perception of reality during the invasion, but Sonic hadn't expected this borderline violent reaction.

Figuring he probably ought to give his partner some space to process these new findings and regain his composure, Sonic focused on calming down Night. "Shh, shh, it's alright." He didn't know whether it was because she had been startled by the manhandling or was just complaining about not being able to finish her bottle—it was probably both—but, hopefully, some gentle affections could fix it. "I'm here. Don't worry."

-O-

It didn't help.

"She's really distraught," Sonic announced the moment Shadow came back to from wherever he had gone to let out some steam.

Shadow just gave an acknowledging hum, passing right by him and completely ignoring crying Night in Sonic's arms, even when she reached out with her tiny hands to the agent.

"She hasn't stopped crying since you left, you know," Sonic added, following the other into the kitchen.

"I have ears," Shadow replied simply, his tone perfectly calm. He began to prepare himself a coffee, still not sparing Night a glance. She began to cry even harder.

—and, well, Sonic's ears had _enough_ of that abuse for today. "Dear Chaos, Shadow, she's a_ baby_! She didn't even realize that what she was doing was wrong!"

"I _don't_ care," Shadow spit back, some of his anger slipping into his voice. "Do you know what it's like to have somebody slithering around in your head? Manipulating you so they—"

"You _didn't_ even notice she was doing it before I pointed it out!" Sonic shot in retaliation, letting his tone match that one of his partner. "And she was not manipulating you! She was being smart about conveying her needs! If you don't like it, be a _parent _and teach her not to do that!"

Sonic extended his arms, prompting the other to take the crying child. Shadow made no move to do so, but he did turn around and finally looked at Night.

"She won't understand. She's a baby."

However, Sonic was not taking any weak excuses today. "You two are smart. You'll figure it out," he said and stepped forward, pushing Night closer until Shadow was forced to actually take the girl into his own hands.

Sonic stepped away, leaving the two half-aliens to figure out their dispute. Having noticed who was holding her now, Night stopped crying for the moment, her big green eyes meeting Shadow's cold crimson ones. They stared at each other for a moment before Night started to cry again.

"She's trying to rekindle the connection. I've shut it off earlier," Shadow explained before turning his focus back to the baby before him. "...I'm not sure how to lecture her without it, though."

"Then how about you don't? Open it, tell her 'Okay, we're not doing this anymore,' and shut it off again," Sonic suggested, with a shrug to his shoulders.

"...Fine." There was another long staring match during which Night stopped crying, then started laughing and the started crying again. It seemed to be more of sulky kind of cry this time, though. It quieted down when Shadow actually brought her close to properly wrap her up his arms. Her little hand immediately clutched onto his white chest fur and she seemed determined not to let go. Shadow softly brushed her head and she seemed to relax her hold a little bit.

The red eyes looked up to meet Sonic's ."...She's gonna be a nightmare when she's teenager," Shadow announced in deadpan and, well, how else was Sonic supposed to respond to that than with a_ laugh_?


	5. Chapter 5

"Shaaaadow—"

"I said no, Sonic."

"But she's been crying since morning!" Sonic protested, shifting Night in her arms once again and rubbing her head reassuringly. It did nothing to stop the sniffles. "Come on!"

Shadow gave a defeated sigh. "_Fine._" They had agreed to try to raise Night as normally as possible, without using shortcuts, but, _of course_, Sonic would try to take advantage of their unique situation.

Crimson eyes focused on Night, Shadow reaching for the mental connection that always laid dormant at the back of his mind. He opened it, so Night could tell him what was bothering her. Once she did, he shut it off again.

"She's teething," he announced simply, clenching his own teeth to get rid of the phantom sensation the brief connection left in his own gums. How on Earth had Black Doom dealt with this thing? It must have been an absolute torture during invasion with all the Black Arms being injured or straight up killed.

Not that he felt bad for the alien overlord—he had brought it on himself, after all—but, _damn_, he had to have some titanium nerves. Shadow had to give him that.

"Teething?" Sonic raised a surprised brow. "Isn't it a little early for that?"

"Dr. Quack has assessed her to be about five months old physically," Shadow noted. The doctor was not a pediatrician as GUN didn't really require that particular specialization, but the man had proved himself to be knowledgeable in all areas of medicine and more than capable of handling patients with unusual ailments and/or physiology like in Shadow's case. And even if the doctor was overestimating her age, Night could also easily be just ahead the curve thanks to her DNA. Shadow had been. "That's not too early. It's possible she'll start talking soon too."

"Hasn't he said she was about three months old when we were there a week ago?" Sonic countered.

"I've told you she might end up developing faster." Shadow shrugged his shoulders, not really seeing how that invalidated the doctor's assessment; Night had definitely been putting on weight and inches faster than was normal. Sonic must have noticed that too. "I grew about seven times quicker than a normal Mobian hedgehog. She'll probably end up being the same."

Sonic regarded Night with a long look, trying to asses how much she has changed in the barely two weeks they'd had her. Well, she'd had definitely grown an inch at least...

"Man, this is insane."

Shadow snorted. "Has your life ever not been?"

-O-

"Gaia, what are you feeding the kid?" Rouge cradled Night's in her arms, the few days she had not seen the little bundle of joy allowing her to notice how quickly Night was actually growing. "A formula for giants?"

"Shadow says she's supposed to grow so fast," Sonic replied as he settled down on the bar stool. "He also said she might end up start talking in a month or two."

"You two always must do things super-fast, don't you?" Rouge noted with a little snicker, looking first to Sonic and then Night. "I meant _three_, of course," she corrected herself when Night started_ complaining _about being left out. Rouge laughed. "Is being impatient a requirement for supersonic hedgehogs?"

"Not really. She's totally got that after Shadow."

"Sure, she did." Rouge just snickered in response, handing Night back to him, so she could get back to cleaning the bar as she had been before they crashed in. "How's our Sunshine doing actually?"

"Dunno. He's on a mission currently." Sonic readjusted the baby in his arms and gave her back the teething ring she had discarded when she spotted Rouge. Night immediately went back to gnawing at the toy; she'd realized early on it was the toy that helped her gums stop feeling sore even if she didn't really understand the _why_. But she'd figured it out. She was a smart gal. "He should be back tomorrow. He's trying to get intel at what Egghead might be up to."

"The Doctor has been too quiet lately," Rouge remarked, a frown marring her face. "What do you think it'll be this time? Another ancient god? Another enslaved alien race?"

"Nah, it's too early for that." Chaos knew where Egghead kept digging up those, but it always took him some time to find a new one. He generally carried out at least one smaller plan in the meantime like— "He hasn't kidnapped anyone important in a while."

Rouge hummed thoughtfully. "Any guesses as who that could be?"

"Nope. But probably some royal. Maybe a princess again." The hero hummed thoughtfully, looking down at the child in his arms. "What do you think, Night? Is it gonna be a princess?"

Night just gave a small incomprehensible noise that was probably more like just a random sound than an actual answer.

Sonic still decided to treat it as answer, though. "Yeah, I've thought you'd say that." He nodded solemnly. Rouge raised a questioning brow. Sonic grinned and translated, "'Sure, it'd be. He's stopped being original years ago.'"

Rouge let out a huff of air through her nose and then shook her head in disbelief. A small smile still appeared on her face, though.

Sonic just grinned in response.


End file.
